American League Free Agency Review

By Staff Writer: Brad Atkinson

We are now almost two weeks into the Free Agent Auction and that makes it a good time to update what the teams are doing and how things are being handled in reflection of the AL and NL previews. 12 teams (out of a total of 16) have signed at least one Free Agent in the auction. There have been varied levels of spending among the teams and two heated auctions are still going . . . Fukudome is up to $13.5 M and the Pedro Martinez auction is just getting underway. At the end of these reviews I’ll make a list of the top, still available FA’s that have not been bid on at each position and make some comments on their possible contributions.

Team-by-Team American League Free Agency Review:

Boston Red Sox – The Red Sox have been conservative on the market so far, but they are in the middle of the Fukudome sweepstakes. Though I am surprised by that . . . with Holliday, Hawpe, Granderson and Matthews Jr. already on board and the FA signing of Austin Kearns, is there really any room on this team for a possible bust OF for more than $13M in salary? After missing out on Ramon Hernandez to fill the obvious Catcher hole they have the Red Sox settled for Carlos Ruiz at a paltry $200K signing . . . I think this may be the best signing of the year and I am shocked that Hernandez went for over $5M while the equally talented, younger and far less injury prone Ruiz went for under the league minimum.

Signees: Carlos Ruiz, Austin Kearns - $2M total

Still Bidding On: Kosuke Fukudome

Bottom Line: Filled obvious hole at catcher admirably and seems to be stocking OF bats.

Detroit Tigers – I called them a Free Agency non-factor with only $1.4M in cap space and I said it was a shame because they needed a good #2 SP in the AL Review. Well, the Tigers took that $1.4M, went and got Sean Marshall from the Cubs, not an immediate fix . . . but in 3 years, this may be the most dominating SP team in the league . . . Bedard, Owings, Garza, Marshall, Loewen, Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain.

Signees: Sean Marshall - $1.4M

Still Bidding On: None

Bottom Line: Needed a high end pitcher and only had $1.4M to get it . . . went and got the best SP they could.

Cleveland Indians – The Indians have been VERY active on the FA market, as predicted, and are the big spenders so far with more than $26M in Free Agent contracts. Bobby Abreu and Jim Thome fill the holes at OF3 and Util respectively. Lindstrom and Bonser provide pitching depth and injury insurance in the starting and relief corps. Crede could provide Mark Reynolds insurance, in case the youngster is a fluke, but since Crede is in a competition with Josh Fields for his own starting spot and there are still available uncontested starters at 3B, I am not sure on this signing. The Indians are still gambling on Jarrod Saltalamacchia as the organization’s sole catcher . . . I wish them good luck in that.

Signees: Joe Crede, Jim Thome, Matt Lindstrom, Boof Bonser, Bobby Abreu - $26.2M

Still Bidding On: Pedro Martinez

Bottom Line: Filled holes and signed organizational depth, but still relying too much on Salty and the Crede signing is a bit risky for $2.5M.

Toronto Blue Jays – If you just looked at the number of $37M in cap room you would think that the Blue Jays would be going nuts in the FA market . . . but ass predicted here in the AL preview the Blue Jays have pretty well stood pat. Signing a little bit of pitching depth and making a great signing of a young, speed OF in Rajai Davis. I really wanted to bid on Davis, but alas I didn’t have the roster space.

Signees: Rajai Davis, Jake Westbrook - $4.6635M

Still Bidding On: None

Bottom Line: Two Quality low-end signings to provide depth to a really solid team and still keep the cap space available for the future.

Chicago White Sox – With only a few million to work with and obvious holes at both OF and C the White Sox went in a different direction and have signed three pitchers, which was already a strength of this team. They are still in the running on Dioner Navarro, Tim Wakefield and Pedro Martinez . . . but only Navarro addresses a true team need, but not very well.

Signees: Hiroki Kuroda, JC Romero, Justin Duchscherer - $7M

Still Bidding On: Pedro Martinez, Dioner Navarro, Tim Wakefield

Bottom Line: Lots of signings, few addressing of actual team needs.

Kansas City Royals – NO FA ACTIVITY . . . with only $7M and needing a complete depth overhaul, this is not a surprising result.

Minnesota Twins – NO FA ACTIVITY . . . with only $5.5M to spend and major starting lineup holes to fill I thought that the Twins would make at least one signing, but no dice.

Seattle Mariners – The Mariners cut loose their dead weight in the RP position and used all of their cap room on 3 big name Free Agents. Though they were big name signings, I doubt that they were all wise ones. In addition they traded away Brian Wilson for cash to bid on FA’s with and then have yet to replace his possible 20-25 saves or 20-25 holds depending on whether he wins the closer’s job or not. Chavez is already talking about missing the beginning of the season with a back issue. Garland is a solid addition to the starting rotation, but Hernandez is an odd signing to me. More than $5M for a catcher to backup Russell Martin that hasn’t been able to log 400 AB’s in the last three years . . . I can’t help but think that there were more affordable, equally talented, less injury prone options out there (Carlos Ruiz and AJ Pierzynski come immediately to mind) and that that money could have been used better.

Signees: Eric Chavez, Jon Garland, Ramon Hernandez - $16.1M

Still Bidding On: None

Bottom Line: Signed some backup bats and a solid starter, but could have used their $16M more wisely.

Effects of FA on AL Playoffs Race:

The Mariners widened their gap in the AL West, for though they made what I think are some small mistakes, the other three teams in the division either refused to participate or made bigger mistakes than the Mariners did.

The AL East tightened up as everyone was active in Free Agency and was also EFFECTIVE in the market. In think the Cleveland Indians may have vaulted themselves into Wild Card contention with their signings, especially if Salty comes through, and that cannot be said for any other non-playoff team in the AL. In fact, with the moves through free agency in the East and the odd moves out of the West, I would not be surprised if the East ends up with 3 playoff teams this year. The Mariners, however, are still the team to beat in the AL.